Spin-photogalvanic effect in chiral lead halide perovskites

Abstract

Low-temperature solution-made chiral lead halide perovskites (LHPs) have spontaneous Bychkov–Rashba spin orbit coupling (SOC) and chiral-induced spin selectivity (CISS) qualities. Their coexistence may give rise to considerable spin and charge conversion capabilities for spin-orbitronic applications. In this study, we demonstrate the spin-photogalvanic effect for (R-MBA)₂PbI₄ and (S-MBA)₂PbI₄ polycrystalline film-based lateral devices (100 μm channel length). The light helicity dependence of the short-circuit photocurrent exhibits the circular photogalvanic effect (CPGE) and linear photogalvanic effect (LPGE) with decent two-fold symmetry for a complete cycle in a wide temperature range from 4 K to 300 K. Because of the Rashba SOC and the material helicity, the effect is converse for the two chiral LHPs. In addition, its magnitude and sign can be effectively tuned by constant magnetic fields. The Rashba effect, CISS-generated unbalanced spin transport, and chiral-induced magnetization are mutually responsible for it. Our study evidently proves the future prospect of using chiral LHPs for spin-orbitronics.